Angry in the Great White North

Back in January, $15,000 was noticed to be missing from the accounts of the federal Liberal Party riding association for London. Police were called in to investigate, and today, charges have been laid against Suzan Pawlak:

A former treasurer of the federal Liberal association in Elgin-Middlesex-London has been charged with 42 counts of fraud and uttering forged documents.

Suzan Pawlak, 49, is to appear in court in St. Thomas July 24 to face the charges. She was arrested Saturday at a Woodworth Avenue residence in St. Thomas, said St. Thomas police Staff Sgt. Hank Zehr.

The charges follow a police investigation that began in January after riding association officials discovered about $15,000 missing from party coffers and contacted police.

Now one of the weird turns in this story is the response of David Pretlove. Out of the blue it seems, the interim director of the Ontario wing of the federal Liberal Party offered to cover the shortfall by writing a cheque to the riding -- on the condition that the police not get involved. Pretlove makes his offer in January, just as the riding association learns something is wrong:

At one point after the money was discovered missing, David Pretlove, interim executive director of the Ontario wing of the Liberal Party of Canada, offered to send cheques to local officials to cover losses. But Feaver and other officials opted instead to call in police.

[London riding president Norm Feaver] called the offer from Pretlove "ill-advised" at the association's annual meeting late last month.

Ill-advised indeed. But why would Pretlove offer to do this?

Could it be that he knew Pawlak was the thief and he wanted to protect her from prosecution?

Sheer fantasy you say? Perhaps, but then it is true that Suzan Pawlak worked for David Pretlove:

In addition to providing assistance and support to the members of the LPC(O) Executive, the staff at the Party office offer a wide range of services to assist riding associations, the Commissions, members and the general public. Whether it's communications, membership, fundraising or any other service, the staff at 10 St. Mary Street are pleased to serve you in any way they can and will do their best to answer every request.

Dave Pretlove - Ext. 302
Interim Executive Director
Manager of Finance, Administration and Special Events
dave.pretlove@lpco.ca

<snip>

Suzan Pawlak - Ext. 305
Manager, Political Operations -
Southwest Region, Golden Horseshoe Region and APLCO
suzan.pawlak@lpco.ca

That page was archived December 16, 2006, only two or three weeks before the funds were first noticed to be missing. You can see the current version of the page via Suzan Pawlak's ZoomInfo entry. She does not appear on the current version, but does appear in the Decemer 2006 version, and through the February 2007 version. So Pawlak was working for Pretlove when she realized that the thefts were discovered by her former employers at the riding association (she was treasurer for the riding association from August 2005 to August 2006; presumably the funds were discovered missing during a routine 2006 year-end audit). Since Pawlak was a former treasurer, it is almost certain she knew almost immediately something was wrong, since no doubt the riding executive called her to ask if she knew of a simple and innocent explanation of what was wrong. So Pawlak knows the riding executive is poking around, and suddenly Pretlove makes his strange offer to cover up the shortfall as long as the police are not called in.

If Pawlak is indeed the thief, the timing is definitely suspicious. If not, what a mind-boggling coincidence that Pretlove was willing to cover the riding association's shortfall even as the person who would ultimately be charged with causing that shortfall was sitting only a few offices or cubicles away.

But we have to be very careful. If Pretlove realized that Pawlak was the thief, or if Pawlak told him, and he did not inform authorities, but instead tried to use party funds to subvert the course of justice by essentially bribing London riding officials not to call the police...well, maybe I should just stop there. I'd hate to think that David Pretlove knew about a crime and didn't report it, or worse, offered to use funds which he controlled to bury the incident.

[Note: It might be that David Pretlove was offering to use his own funds to cover the $15,000 gap. The letter with the offer, which has not been published, was delivered to the executive by board member Suzanne van Bommel, who said she presented the offer "on behalf of Mr Pretlove". It is a bit ambiguous.]

I think the media ought to get involved and ask some questions.

Correction: I incorrectly said that Pretlove works for the provincial Liberals, while in fact he works for the Ontario wing of the federal Liberals.

Addendum: Dan McKenzie wonders about the condition imposed by Pretlove that money would be made available as long as the police weren't involved. How did I know about the condition? I didn't imagine it, but I ought to have provided the links. From my first post on this story, quoting the London Free Press:

And the coverup?

The Free Press has learned a high-ranking party official tried to solve the problem by offering to cut cheques for the missing money provided local officials agreed to take no further action and considered the matter closed.

A letter from David J. Pretlove, then interim executive director of the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario), offered to cover the missing funds.

That letter was given to the board in January by Suzanne van Bommel, then a member of the board and now also the party's candidate in the riding for the next federal election.

Van Bommel said she presented the offer "on behalf of Mr. Pretlove."

Pretlove is now director of finance and administration for the party's Ontario wing.

I don't know about you, but allegations that the director of finance was offering to cut cheques to cover what to all appearances looked like a massive theft would make me very nervous. That the allegation extends to Pretlove trying to get the riding association to pretend it never happened would make me wonder about the true state of the Liberal Party finances.

No further actions and consider the matter closed.

To their credit, the London riding association decided to call the police, and now we learn that David Pretlove's former employee, Suzan Pawlak, was charged by the police.

Hope that answers your question, Dan.

Purely salacious speculation: If Suzan Pawlak is indeed guilty, David Pretlove's offer to cover the missing funds as long as the police were not called indicates one of three things:

1. This is one of strangest coincidences I've ever been witness to.
2. David Pretlove is the world's greatest boss, trying to cover up an employee's serious criminal activities.
3. There is some other reason a man would protect a woman who has committed a crime by committing another crime himself. But what is it? What is that reason? What? What?

Could the reason simply be that Pretlove was trying to fend off another Liberal Party scandal? What scandal? That a riding association was ripped off by someone in a trusted position who decided to steal money? Embarrassing, I suppose, but then it happens, and we don't criticize the victims of crime. If there is potential for scandal, it is in trying to entice someone not to pursue a criminal investigation, and the reasons behind that attempt.

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